Do e-cigarettes actually work?

CaspianXI@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 157 points –

I have a friend who has been using an e-cigarette for 10+ years. He doesn't seem any less addicted to smoking as back when he was using old-fashioned cigarettes.

I understand e-cigarettes are supposed to help you quit... but has anyone actually had success with them? Or, is it more like trading one vice for another?

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I found this question surprising. “Do they work?” At first I didn’t understand - work at what? Then I realized that you’re thinking of them as quitting smoking devices. They’re not that. It’s an alternative to smoking. You inhale fewer particulates but often more nicotine, and there have been some health questions about the oils that serve as a medium for the nicotine and how healthy they are to inhale. It’s not thoroughly understood yet and there’s a big range of products out there.

The companies that sell them will swear up and down that they are to help you quit. And some users of them will tell you how much healthier it is and how they’re halfway to quitting. This is all, essentially, lies that they are telling themselves and you.

If you want to see a nicotine abatement product, check out nicotine gum or patches. There is nothing enjoyable about them. They allow the user to divide quitting into two stages: first, getting the habit out of their system, and second, phasing out their nicotine addiction. They do not deliver any enjoyment or rush, and are designed to be clinical and dull. The gum is hard and has a medicine flavor and plain grey color.

E-cigs on the other hand, enhance smoking. They allow you to smoke in more places. They add fruity flavors. The gadgets are cool and the different things you fill them with are stylishly presented. You still go through most of the motions of smoking and you’re getting more nicotine than before.

Why would anyone consider that a quitting tool? It absolutely is not.

Because so many of us have quit using them, as you can ween yourself off of the nicotine with lower and lower concentrations.

People HAVE used them to quit successfully though. You can keep lowering the nicotine levels on them slowly in a similar manner as the nicotine gum and patches and it tends to be cheaper.

What I see are anecdotes about people who vaped and then quit. FDA has said they find no evidence that vaping improves outcomes for people trying to quit. There are other proven therapies, too, that don’t have all the health risks.

I also see a lot of anecdotes right here from people who switched to vaping and then did not quit.

The bottom line is that vaping may or may not have played a part in this or that person’s story, but there is no firm basis to hold it up as a quitting aid. So we should stop doing that.

No offense, but as someone from outside of the US, the FDA is not the sole speaker of what is safe or what helps addiction. You guys have a LOT of commonly consumed things that are outright banned in other countries.

While vaping specifically isn't mentioned as a cessation-aid, my country states that "nicotine is approved for use in nicotine replacement therapies, (e.g. the patch, inhaler or nicotine gum) to ease withdrawal symptoms and help people quit smoking." Research is ongoing, of course.

I'll listen to mine, you listen to yours.

I happen to agree with you. I don’t consider the FDA perfect, just several degrees more reliable than internet anecdotes.

and there have been some health questions about the oils that serve as a medium for the nicotine and how healthy they are to inhale.

Yeah, by fear mongering satanic panic moms and by monied interests

Nicotine vapes are orders of magnitude more safe than cigarettes. All the research shows it, and the medical establishment is full of cowards with "vapes lead to cigarettes" bullshit.

The only harmful vape chemicals (on any scale close to cigarettes) are sketchy fake weed from China. 100% of the popcorn lung cases stem from that.

Actually the popcorn lung was traced back to one dude in LA who used a thickening agent to make his THC liquid seem thiccc.

There's also sketchy fake vape juice from China. A huge amount of disposable vapes (elfbar etc) for sale are counterfeit. Who knows what they're filled with.

Panic moms like… the Mayo Clinic?

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/vaping-associated-lung-injury-may-be-caused-by-toxic-chemical-fumes-study-fines/

a Mayo Clinic study published in The New England Journal of Medicine finds that lung injuries from vaping most likely are caused by direct toxicity or tissue damage from noxious chemical fumes.

…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported more than 800 lung injury cases that are associated with electronic cigarette use, or vaping, over the past few months. Twelve deaths have been confirmed in 10 states

Yeah, and it's all from bullshit THC additive stuff. Not from nicotine vaping. If I add rat poison to my apple juice, it doesn't mean apple juice is harmful.

This is the shit I'm talking about, conflating harmful with not harmful.

Mayo Clinic says, in the link I posted, that a good proportion of cases they’ve handled had THC additives, but not all. And they repeat what I said earlier: that it is not well understood but there are signs of trouble. They link to another panic mom / monied interest, the American Lung Association, who say:

A study from the University of North Carolina found that the two primary ingredients found in e-cigarettes—propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin—are toxic to cells and that the more ingredients in an e-liquid, the greater the toxicity.2 E-cigarettes produce a number of dangerous chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde. These aldehydes can cause lung disease, as well as cardiovascular (heart) disease.3 E-cigarettes also contain acrolein, a herbicide primarily used to kill weeds. It can cause acute lung injury and COPD and may cause asthma and lung cancer.4 Both the U.S. Surgeon General and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have warned about the risks of inhaling secondhand e-cigarette emissions, which are created when an e-cigarette user exhales the chemical cocktail created by e-cigarettes. In 2016, the Surgeon General concluded that secondhand emissions contain, "nicotine; ultrafine particles; flavorings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to serious lung disease; volatile organic compounds such as benzene, which is found in car exhaust; and heavy metals, such as nickel, tin, and lead." The Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit. If smokers are ready to quit smoking for good, they should call 1-800-QUIT NOW or talk with their doctor about finding the best way to quit using proven methods and FDA-approved treatments and counseling.